My companions hoped to reach before morning an _estancia_, still many leagues distant, where they were known and would be allowed to lie in concealment for a few days till the storm blew over; for usually shortly after an outbreak has been put down an _indulto_, or proclamation of pardon, is issued, after which it is safe for all those who have taken arms against the constituted government to return to their homes.

This indulto, proclaimed by the notorious Clemente Mastella (the shadiest politician in the coalition, a former Christian Democrat from Campania who had been made minister of justice to keep his tiny party in the coalition's ranks), provoked widespread outrage.